I have a question, as I am new to starting a saltwater tank. You do a lot of reading on this site as well as alot of other places about setting up a tank, and cycling it. Then how to add fish slowly, like one fish every 2 weeks or so.

If this is the case, why is it that on the TV show "TANKED", They always show them quickly putting in the tank, adding water, then dumping in every fish at one time, like 15-20 fish?

There is never any discussion on the show about cycling tank, cooking rock, ammonia spikes or acclimating fish slowly.

Last night I noticed they were putting nitrifying bacteria in the tank. They said it cycles the tank nearly instantly. Maybe they know what they are talking about. Seems like they are always showing tanks that they had built before in people's homes or businesses and they all seem to be doing fine.

its TV, edited for maximum AWE and holding interest. It has been said that they are starting to explain some of the methods they use to to fast set up a lot of their tanks possibly due to negative feedback they have gotten from Reef and Fish forums like this one and other big players in the hobby. I don't watch the show myself as I am opposed to the concept of wet furniture. being involved in marine tanks since the mid 70s I have always been a hands on type of hobbyist, i did setups in offices and such back in the 70s but got burnt out on doing that for people who just wanted something with WOW factor and no clue what was involved.
That is my personal philosophy re: the hobby , I have no issue with those that do these setups for others, it is just a choice I made for myself.
I think if the show spent more time on the how and why it would bore a lot of their audience, however I think if they made a behind the scenes version as a follow up show or online it would get more views from people like us. I think that a lot of us in the hobby are the curious type that go to a large public Aquarium and oooh and aaaah with the crowd but would jump at the chance to do the behind the scenes tour and see how it all works.

Last night I noticed they were putting nitrifying bacteria in the tank. They said it cycles the tank nearly instantly. Maybe they know what they are talking about. Seems like they are always showing tanks that they had built before in people's homes or businesses and they all seem to be doing fine.

Again it is edited for television, you don't see the failures. It's kind of like those Storage War shows, ou only see the ones that have something worthwhile, they edit out all the units that have nothing but old worthless stuff.

i love the show and seeing what they kind of thanks they can make but i do believe theres alot of behind the sceens we dont get to see . i would love to see them do a what really happens kind of show and what really goes into setting up a tank. but its fun to watch for the entertainment

__________________i don't think theres enough help in the would for me

Again it is edited for television, you don't see the failures. It's kind of like those Storage War shows, ou only see the ones that have something worthwhile, they edit out all the units that have nothing but old worthless stuff.

I would think that a business that has as much exposure as theirs would not do as well if they had a lot of failures. You can edit for TV all you want, but businesses don't do well by failing.

I would think that a business that has as much exposure as theirs would not do as well if they had a lot of failures. You can edit for TV all you want, but businesses don't do well by failing.

I suppose that depends on your definition of fail. These are all big dollar custom setups with budgets that allow them to replace a lot of expensive livestock if things go awry. When you set up tanks and maintain them, fish losses occur and sometimes fish get rotated because whoever commisioned the tank wants to look at something different.

i love the show and seeing what they kind of thanks they can make but i do believe theres alot of behind the sceens we dont get to see . i would love to see them do a what really happens kind of show and what really goes into setting up a tank. but its fun to watch for the entertainment

Be it may, if their tanks had the reputation of having fish die then I don't care how big a business it is it would give them a bad name, especially in a place like Vegas. They are doing something right and until I see something that proves otherwise I would give them the benefit of doubt as any nay saying is all pure speculation.

I don't think what you see edited in the actual time passed. Those guys spend 200-300 hrs on some of these tanks and probably 3-4 take off trips before ever running with it..

Then they must wear the same clothes on all the days, cause it sure looks like its happening all at once. The one I watched yesterday, they opened a box that had probably 12-15 bags of fish in it and they put them all in together.

I really dislike when people complain about the show, no where does it say "This is a step by step direction on how to run an aquarium". It's made for entertainment purposes, they have done a better job of awareness this season but in the end it's an entertainment show not a documentary on fishkeeping. Take it for what it is, I'd hope and LFS or respectful pet store would had the responsibility if a guy comes in and goes "I want a 55g tank, live rock and 3 clown fish" the'd go.. "Well sir.. you can't just do that.." Although that might be a little to non-corpo of a view.